1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a sunshade assembly which, as occasion demands, covers a sun roof opening formed in a roof of a motor vehicle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a sunshade assembly which is associated with a sun roof construction of the type which uses a transparent panel, such as glass panel, plastic panel or the like, as a sun roof lid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, one conventional sunshade assembly of the above-mentioned type will be described in the following with reference to FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawings.
As is seen from the drawing, the sunshade assembly is associated with a sun roof construction installed on a roof 3 of a motor vehicle. The sun roof construction uses a rectangular glass panel 4 as a sun roof lid, which is tiltably mounted on the roof 3 to close and open a rectangular sun roof opening 5 formed in the roof 3. The sunshade assembly is installed below the sun roof structure.
The sunshade assembly uses a rectangular shading panel 1 which includes a base plate 1a and a decorative layer 1b bonded to a lower surface of the base plate 1a. The shading panel 1 is slidably supported by a ceiling panel 2 of a passenger room. The ceiling panel 2 is formed with a rectangular opening 2b at a portion facing the sun roof opening 5. Designated by numeral 2a is one of beads 2a which are formed on the ceiling panel 2 to increase the mechanical strength of the same. A protector strip 6 extends around the peripheral edge of the ceiling panel 2 by which the opening 2b is defined. Guide brackets (not shown) extend upward from side portions of the opening 2b to slidably hold side edges of the shading panel 1. With this, the shading panel 1 is slidable forward to close the opening 2b and rearward to open the same.
However, due to its inherency in construction, the sunshade assembly has the following drawbacks.
When, as is seen from FIG. 5, the shading panel 1 is moved into a container space defined between the roof 3 and the ceiling panel 2, the shading panel 1 is inclined downward due to its own weight. This causes the rear portion of the shading panel 1 to abut against the ceiling panel 2. The abutment becomes much severe when the bead 2a is located at the container space, as shown. This abutment however tends to scrape off the decorative layer 1b of the shading panel 1 during opening and closing movements of the shading panel 1. Furthermore, such abutment increases the contact resistance between the shading panel 1 and the ceiling panel 2 thereby increasing the force required for moving the shading panel 1.